Policy

By: Lykke E. Andersen*

During the last decade, Bolivia had one of the highest per capita deforestation rates in the World (1). Apart from this being decidedly unkind to Mother Earth and exacerbating problems of wild fires, droughts and flooding in Bolivia, this also caused Bolivians to be among the biggest contributors to CO₂ emissions in the World (approximately 11 t/CO₂/person/year – more than almost all European countries and more than twice the global average) (2).

This was obviously a major problem in Bolivia, and at INESAD we have been working for several years on promoting policies to reduce deforestation. Thus, we should be thrilled by the recent news from ABT showing that Bolivia has reduced deforestation by 64% since 2010 (see Figure 1).

But it almost seems too good to be true. I suspect that everybody working in this area are asking themselves: Can this really be true?

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By: Sanne Blauw*

The logic is irresistible: if we send enough money to developing countries, poverty will be put to an end once and for all. We have got to help, it’s our responsibility. In the book The Idealist, Nina Munk portrays the charismatic Jeffrey Sachs and his Millennium Villages in Africa. How good intentions can have destructive consequences.

Already at a young age Jeffrey Sachs (1954) stood out: he received high grades in school, won math competitions, and displayed leadership qualities. He was already a successful economist when the Bolivian president Victor Paz invited him to help Bolivia in the mid-eighties. The country was poor and the economy was in chaos. Inflation reached 25,000%. Sachs wrote a plan for economic recovery. The strict fiscal and monetary policies caused hundreds of thousands of people to lose their job or pension. But the “shock therapy” helped: inflation fell to 15%. As it turned out: the economy is controllable, as long as you are willing to make concessions.

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By: Lykke E. Andersen*

In an attempt to deal with the threat of climate change, many development banks and development institutions have established considerable budgets in support of climate change mitigation and adaptation projects in addition to their usual development projects. For example, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) is aiming for 25% of their lending portfolio to be destined to climate change and sustainable development projects by 2015.

There is a concern, however, that these climate change projects may not be truly additional, compared to the business-as-usual scenario, but may just represent a renaming of already existing projects (compare panels (i) and (ii) of Figure 1), or worse, that the climate change projects are actually diverting funds away from development projects to the detriment of the poor (panel (iii)).

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By: Juan Carlos Ledezma*

La zonificación agroecológica y socioeconómica (ZAE) comenzó a aplicarse en Bolivia desde el año 1996 con la promulgación del Plan de Uso del Suelo (PLUS) del departamento de Santa Cruz. Este instrumento de planificación reconoce la vocación productiva de la tierra y acuerdos entre los usuarios de la tierra y las instituciones públicas y privadas involucradas en su utilización. La importancia del PLUS en Bolivia se deriva del hecho que la mayor parte de la población y de los municipios del país depende para su sustento directa e indirectamente del aprovechamiento de los recursos naturales renovables y que éstos se hallan sometidos a una creciente presión que proviene tanto de las formas de uso, las prácticas de manejo y las condiciones de tenencia de la tierra. Por ello, la zonificación y, en general, el ordenamiento territorial, son instrumentos que podrían ser útiles en la planificación territorial del desarrollo económico, social y ambiental, tanto en el ámbito nacional, como en los ámbitos departamental y municipal (ZONISIG, 2001). Sin embargo, en la mayoría de los casos, estos instrumentos carecen de una institucionalidad y en la práctica no se han aplicado en Bolivia a pesar que se hicieron grandes inversiones para desarrollarlos, y al final de cuentas, en lo que se refiere a nuestros bosques, en gran medida se han conservado donde se pensó que se debería y en gran parte se han perdido donde pensamos que deberíamos hacer uso agrícola de la tierra.

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By: Lykke E. Andersen*

You have got to be impressed by anybody who can rally several hundred million people around a cause.  WWF has managed to do that several years in a row by getting people to turn off the lights for one hour every year to highlight the impacts of our energy use on the global climate.

However, there are two important reasons why I have decided not to join this global event.

First, I think electricity is the World’s best poverty-reducing invention ever, and if we wanted to turn it off for an hour, it should be to think very hard about how to bring this crucial invention to the 1.3 billion people who still don’t have it and thus suffer from darkness, low productivity and extreme poverty.

Second, and a lot less obvious, is the fact that symbolic do-good-events like this tend to be counter-productive because they make people feel like they have acquired a license to indulge in self-interested and unethical behaviors (Mazar and Zhong, 2010).

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By: Lykke E. Andersen*

Even the most affluent and powerful people in the World are exposed to the risk of adverse shocks and stresses: Christopher Reeve (Superman) became a quadriplegic after a riding accident; Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years; Mel Gibson had to pay more than $400 million in his divorce settlement; Steve Jobs got fired from his own company; and Donald trump has declared bankruptcy four times.

We are all at risk of adversity, or even calamity, and the list of threats is endless: Natural disasters, illness, accidents, unemployment, price fluctuations, conflict, vandalism, fire, robbery, pest attacks, technological change, pollution, climate change, etc. Most of these threats are almost entirely outside our control and it is important that we build up resilience against them so that we will be able to overcome the challenges that we are bound to encounter.

Some people and households are more resilient than others, however. They bounce back even after severe adversity. Nelson Mandela, for example, became one of the most famous and respected presidents in the World and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize after spending 27 years in prison; Christopher Reeve claimed that the accident, which left him paralyzed from the neck down, helped him appreciate life more and considered himself a very lucky man less paralyzed than many able-bodied men; and Donald Trump evidently rebuilt his fortune between bankruptcies.

While resilience is an integral part of the human psychology, it would be useful if we could measure and compare resilience in a more general way. This is what a new research paper and Policy Brief from INESAD proposes.

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We are delighted to announce that the 6^th Bolivian Conference on Development Economics will be held at the Campus of Universidad Privada Boliviana (UPB) in Cochabamba, Bolivia, on August 28th and 29th, 2014. This conference is jointly organized by the Institute for Advanced Development Studies (INESAD), the Society of Bolivian Economists (SEBOL), Universidad Privada Boliviana (UPB), and the Bolivian Academy of Economic Sciences (ABCE).

The conference will bring together local and international scholars for the exchange of ideas and discussion of recent results within theoretical and applied economics, and other disciplines related to development. We seek high quality academic work that enriches and challenges our knowledge. We particularly encourage female researchers and young Bolivian researchers to submit papers.

As highlights of the 2014 conference we will have two keynote lectures to be delivered by Hans Rosling (Gapminder Foundation) and Tyler Cowen (George Mason University), as well as Enrique García Rodríguez (CAF Development Bank of Latin America) as invited guest speaker. The conference will be organized to foster interaction and exchange of ideas among the participants in a comfortable atmosphere.

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Climate change, ozone layer, biodiversity, carbon footprint, glacial melt – these have become the buzz phrases of a generation. To some these problems seem far away, while others give up in light of their complexity and magnitude. But clearly we should not leave it to the ‘big boys’ of environmental politics to tackle the problems faced around the world. Active and informed engagement with environmental challenges will be necessary to find satisfactory solutions. Today, Development Roast brings you three initiatives from three countries offering environmental education and tools for engagement at the policy, academic, and grassroots levels.

Costa Rican Earth University is revolutionizing agricultural education

The Costa Rica-based Earth University offers students a holistic degree in Agricultural Sciences and Resource Management that teaches them about every stage of agricultural and forestry production: from crop management and harvesting to processing and waste management. Unlike many other agriculture degrees, Earth courses do not teach the components of the ecological system, such as biology, physics, and chemistry, separately. Instead, Earth’s holistic approach confronts its students with the complexity of ecological systems and the role people play in them from the beginning. Students also learn about the ins and outs of agricultural business by planning and running an agricultural enterprise with their classmates over the course of three years with a special emphasis on the ecological and social costs of agricultural business. On campus, the university practices what it preaches: In 2011, it opened its first ‘green’ dorm with energy-efficient lighting, solar water heaters, and a rainwater collection system for toilets and outdoor sinks. Read More »

By: Lykke E. Andersen*

There is probably nobody I admire more in the entire World than Hans Rosling, so getting him as keynote speaker for the next Bolivian Conference on Development Economics is a major coup. Unfortunately my biggest hero and role model seems to be largely unknown among Bolivian Economists. This is a disappointing fact, which I am going to work on remedying before Rosling comes to Bolivia; starting with this newsletter.

There are several things I love about Hans Rosling. The first is his chosen mission: To replace devastating myths with a fact-based worldview. This is absolutely crucial, because we can’t make sensible decisions and policies, if we have a completely distorted view of the world. And as Rosling has repeatedly pointed out, most of us know less about the World than a chimpanzee (see his first TED talk from 2006  “Debunking myths about the ‘third world’” or take his recent “Ignorance Test” at the BBC News Magazine yourself).

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The World Wide Web recently celebrated its 20th birthday and, since its birth, the Internet has grown to become an indispensable tool for many people, penetrating into many aspects of everyday life, including education. The Flipped Classroom, for example, has revolutionized how classes and homework are organized and delivered. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of people are taking advantage of Massive Open Online Course (MOOCs). These are online courses that are open to everyone from all over the world, which enable participants to learn in their own time and often free of charge. While access is easy for citizens of richer nations—and richer citizens of all nations—could this platform also help to spread high-quality education to the less advantaged in advanced and developing countries alike? Read More »